If you were the commander of an army
& you were preparing to fight another army
-what are some things you would do?
-among other things - you would to the best you could - to study your enemy
-you would try to find out what kind of tactics they used in other battles
-& therefore, might use against you
If you were the coach of a team
& you were preparing to play another team
-what are some things you would do to prepare?
-among other things - you’d study other games the other team has played
-& you would figure, it’s likely that team will come against you
-with similar strategies, strengths & weaknesses
Its good to learn about your opposition - & this is true in the spiritual realm
In our study from the book of Ezra
-we come to a chapter where opposition is introduced
Ezra is a book about the history of rebuilding Jerusalem
-in particular - the temple
-the temple & most of the city had been destroyed over 50 years earlier
-the people had been carried away to Babylon
-& now the Medio-Persian king Cyrus,
-at the gracious-miraculous direction & prompting of God
-gives them permission & support to go back & rebuild
-& resettle Jerusalem
It's a story about rebuilding
-& we’ve been thinking in terms of the process of rebuilding our lives
-it’s fair to say, God’s ideal for us is to be like Jesus
-we were created to be like Him
-but sin causes us to fall from that & be broken
-far from God’s plan & ideal
-so, we’re always in the process of building or rebuilding our lives
-sometimes physically
-sometimes emotionally, & socially,
-& always, in the process of building/re-building spiritually
-therefore, as we’ve been going through this book
-& observing the rebuilding of Jerusalem
-we’re taking note & making some parallel applications
-to the rebuilding of our lives
Chapter 4 - brings us to some enemy warfare
Ezra 4:1-2
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, "Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."
Now, you might at first think,
“What’s wrong with that? We could use the help!”
-extra help is always appreciated - right?
Well, maybe not always
When God is building something
-God generally wants to build it with His people - His way
-there are exceptions - God used Cyrus the Persian King to initiate the building
-but, yet, it was God’s people who were carefully doing the building
-often, people who don’t know God - don’t know God’s ways
-so, things don’t get built God’s way
-in other words, they get built, the wrong way
These people who really weren’t God’s people
-volunteered to help build God’s temple
-this is what the leaders said:
v.3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, "You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us."
There’s an important principle that’s made very clear throughout the Bible
-God wants His people, to a large extent to stay apart from people
-who don’t follow God
-believers are to be separate from non-believers
-there is a role & place for God’s people to mix with unbelievers
-for the necessary sake of witnessing & being a testimony of light to them
-we need to connect with those who don’t follow God
-so that we may influence them to turn to God
-but for the most part - God’s people are to be separate from people
-who don’t follow God
-this was made very clear when the people of God
-were moving into the promised land
Deuteronomy 7:1-6 7:1 When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations — the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you — 2 and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. 3 Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, 4 for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. 5 This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. 6 For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
And there are many other similar warnings by God to His people
-& there are plenty of examples in the Bible
-between the time when these warnings where written
& the time of Ezra
-examples where Israel got too involved with the non-believing peoples
-& the results were disastrous
-they were led astray - led away from God
So, there was a strong foundation laid for spiritual separation in the O.T.
-& this carries into the N.T.
-where the followers of Christ - the Church, are similarly considered the holy
-people of God & we’re to stay separate from non-believers
2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people."
17 "Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.
Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty."
7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
Again, keep in mind, there’s a very important role of contacts
& even friendships with people outside of the Church - in our case
-God would have us to love people - to care for people in this world
-who don’t know God
-God would have us to shine as spiritual light to people
-God would have us to share the gospel - the good news
-that Jesus so loved them, that He died for their sin
-so they can be forgiven & also become children of God
-inheriting God’s eternal blessings
-but, you have to watch out
-instead of believers influencing non-believers to turn to God
-non-believers, can easily influence believers to fall away from God
-so, as you’re building your life up to be like Christ
-watch out in how certain non-believers may get involved in your life
-& get you going in a direction that is off the blueprints of God’s plans
-& that’s what the people Jerusalem correctly recognized
"You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us."
And, they were right - as it turned out these people really didn’t want the best
-for Jerusalem & God’s plans
-it doesn’t look like they wanted to really help at all - but to foil their plans
vv.4-5
Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. 5 They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
These people didn’t have Israel’s best interest in mind - not at all
-they wanted to see their defeat
-they really wanted to see the building project collapse
-they wanted to see the temple stay in ruins
-& they were going to do everything possible to make that happen
-so, since they couldn’t join forces & do it undercover
-they now do it above ground - they just blatantly sent people in
-to discourage them from building
-they even hired people to do this as a job
“Go cause trouble - do whatever you can to stop them from building the
temple”
Realize, there are people around you,
-who will tend to resist your efforts at building your life up for God
-who will tend to redirect your efforts at becoming like Jesus
-to something other than like Jesus
-now, I think most people really don’t intend on interfering
-with your fellowship with God
-it’s just, that they don’t have fellowship with God
-they don’t know the ways of God
-they’re following the ways of the world
-& if you form too close of a partnership with them
-they’ll lead you in the wrong direction
There are, however, some who will actively seek to turn you away from God
-maybe you can think of some examples
-of people who actively oppose you in your faith
-who actively oppose you in your attempts at rebuilding your life
-& back in Jerusalem,
-these people may have started out really wanting to just help
-but, the leaders of God’s people wisely recognized this would be harmful
-when they were not welcomed - they certain took the direction of active
-resistance - they sought to destroy the building work of God
-when that didn’t work - they went to the authorities
-essentially - they took legal action
-& this too, happens today
-when some get real antagonistic towards God’s workings in the world
vv.8-24
Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king as follows:
9 Rehum the commanding officer and Shimshai the secretary, together with the rest of their associates — the judges and officials over the men from Tripolis, Persia, Erech and Babylon, the Elamites of Susa, 10 and the other people whom the great and honorable Ashurbanipal deported and settled in the city of Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates.
11(This is a copy of the letter they sent him.)
To King Artaxerxes,
From your servants, the men of Trans-Euphrates:
12 The king should know that the Jews who came up to us from you have gone to Jerusalem and are rebuilding that rebellious and wicked city. They are restoring the walls and repairing the foundations. 13 Furthermore, the king should know that if this city is built and its walls are restored, no more taxes, tribute or duty will be paid, and the royal revenues will suffer. 14 Now since we are under obligation to the palace and it is not proper for us to see the king dishonored, we are sending this message to inform the king, 15 so that a search may be made in the archives of your predecessors. In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed. 16 We inform the king that if this city is built and its walls are restored, you will be left with nothing in Trans-Euphrates.
17 The king sent this reply:
To Rehum the commanding officer, Shimshai the secretary and the rest of their associates living in Samaria and elsewhere in Trans-Euphrates:
Greetings.
18 The letter you sent us has been read and translated in my presence. 19 I issued an order and a search was made, and it was found that this city has a long history of revolt against kings and has been a place of rebellion and sedition. 20 Jerusalem has had powerful kings ruling over the whole of Trans-Euphrates, and taxes, tribute and duty were paid to them. 21 Now issue an order to these men to stop work, so that this city will not be rebuilt until I so order. 22 Be careful not to neglect this matter. Why let this threat grow, to the detriment of the royal interests?
23 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Yeah, you encounter the same nonsense today
-people squawking about their rights
-& trying to restrict religious freedoms
-while insisting on their own freedom from religion
-e.g. there can’t be a Ten Commandments hanging in the courthouse
-even though it’s the foundation from which our laws come
-e.g. there can’t be a manger scene displayed on public land
-even though it’s the reason for why we celebrate Christmas
-it’s all pretty ridiculous, but some people will go to extremes to try
-to fight against our attempts at living for God
In the days of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem
-the opposition won out
v.24 Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.
And, that’s so sad
-but realize, this too happens to a lot of us - we end up un-finished
-I remember that was a joke in Milwaukee when we lived there
-there was one of those high rise bridges - it just stopped in mid air
-high in the air - the free-way & bridge that went to no-where
(Movie makers, for the, used that bridge to drive cars of off
-in the movie Blues Brothers - to make dramatic scenes of crashes)
-for the most part - everyone looked at it for years & wondered
-why they started building that & never finished it
-but, in reality, it wasn’t too unusual
-its just that the whole city could see that unfinished free-way bridge
-reality, is that so many of our projects never ever get finished
When it comes to your spiritual life - its true - you are never finished
-when it comes to building your life to be like Christ
-you always have more to build
-but what happens to so many of us - we stop building
-the process is put on hold
-we get discouraged
-we get lazy
-we get side-tracked
-we get complacent - we don’t even care - apathetic
-we get too busy with everything else that becomes our priority
-think about how sad that is - that we neglect the building up of our lives
-opposition in one form or another
-will often contribute to this construction standstill
What kind of enemies do you face in your attempt at rebuilding your life?
The enemy came at the people of God in essentially three ways
-first, through a subtle cooperation - a partnership in serving God
-we’re not to partner with non-believers in service to God
-this was the back-door approach
-second, through a direct frontal attack - through the front door
-they set out to directly discourage them from continuing with the work
-of building for God
-this too is used by people in this world
-in any one of many ways - people will seek to discourage you
-& third, through working through the authorities
-taking legal or government action to stop you & the work of God
-sadly, it often works against us & we give up
-or slow down
-or get side tracked
It’s important to remember
-we’re the people of God through whom God is reaching this world
2 Corinthains 5:17-20
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20 We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
May we continually let God build us to be those new people of His design
-& may we, therefore, as newly built people - or re-built - or being built people
-may we interact in this world as the people of God
-as ambassadors to this world of God’s saving grace
-& reconciliation
-may we effectively change the world - rather than having the world change us!
1 Peter 2:9-12
9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.